Perdita woman: Mary Gale(?)

Biography

Nothing is known of the identity of Mary or Maria Gale. The "M. G." mentioned on the title page of Newberry Library Case MS fY952.B733 is presumably the compiler of the volume, and is probably identical with the "M. G." or "Ma. G." to whom several of the illustrations are explicitly ascribed. One illustration (p. 24, fol. 12v) is explicitly attributed to "Domina Maria Gale", and another (p. 30, fol. 15v) to "Mary G.". The contents of the satires, which gibe at both Catholics and Dissenters, tend to imply a Church of England compiler. One satire (p. 26, fol. 13v) is attributed to "Tho. Gale", and numerous others to "T. G.". This may be Thomas Gale, dean of York (1635?-1702), a noted scholar and linguist, though he is not known to have had a relative named Mary or Maria. He did, however, have a son named Charles (d. 1738), a rector, who may be the "C. G." to whom several of the English poems and one of the Latin poems in the manuscript are ascribed.

Biography by Gillian Wright.


Newberry Library: Case MS fY952.B733
Navis Stultifera (1696)
(author) Brant, Sebastian
(translator) Locher, Jacobus
(translator?) (scribe) ( illustrator) Mary Gale(?)